Bridge Officer's Test
by Starsinger
Summary: Those who are not command level officers can command the bridge, as long as they take one simple test.
1. Chapter 1

**Bridge Officer's Test**

by Starsinger

**I'm currently out of ideas for anything else, although Rihannsu keeps banging around in my brain, and prompts given previously are trying to worm their way into a story. Bridge officer's test came up in the Next Generation's: ****Thine Own Self**** where Counselor Troi decided to take the test so she could command the bridge. Normally, an officer not of the line (i.e. counselors, doctors etc.) would not be allowed to do so unless properly prepared. The ship would go through every other officer and enlisted personnel before going to medical personnel. Learned that in ROTC. This test was designed so that those officers who had not taken such tests such as the Kobayashi Maru, could command the bridge. There is not a no-win scenario in here, just a difficult command decision that does need to be made. Both Uhura and McCoy decide to take it after finding M'Benga on the Bridge late one night. Don't own them.**

It was late as McCoy and Uhura finally got off the shuttle and back on the Enterprise. How someone had scheduled both a linguistics conference and a Starfleet Medical conference on the same weekend at the same place was beyond either one's comprehension. The results were rather chaotic. At one point McCoy found himself in a meeting on Andorian while Uhura was in a symposium on the latest autopsy techniques. McCoy came away confused and Uhura came away looking a little green. "You almost did that to Kirk?" she asked.

McCoy said, "Almost." Fortunately, the topic of this conversation was safely aboard the Enterprise. They both reported to the bridge to find Dr. M'Benga in the Captain's chair looking rather comfortable. "Hey, M'Benga, I didn't know you were rated to command the bridge," Uhura said looking surprised.

M'Benga grinned, "Yeah, I passed the Bridge Officer's Test about six years ago on a whim. I don't do this very often, but it's a nice bit of a change, and gives the Captain one more officer to give the conn to if necessary. Been a quiet night."

"How do you take this test?" McCoy asked, intrigued.

"You ask your Senior Officer, Spock in your cases, and he either administers the test or he requests someone from another ship to administer the test. It's not a no-win scenario, Leonard, but there are some tough decisions that have to be made during the course of the exam, especially the engineering portion. It also gives me the ability to move up to the rank of Commander when and if the time comes. Good night, you two," he said as they walked off the bridge.

The next morning they both found themselves in Spock's quarters. He looked at them carefully, "I believe you'd both do well taking this test, but I am intrigued, what brought this on?" They told him about encountering M'Benga on the bridge the night before. "Neither of you were aware that you could do this?" Both shook their heads. "I believe I am too involved to give either of you the test objectively. I will call someone to come aboard to do this." They both nodded, it would take a few days for everything to be arranged.

A week later they rendezvoused with a shuttle from the USS Joshua. This brought back a familiar face as Administrator Kris McDaniel, Fleet Captain Ret, stepped off the shuttle with a big grin on her face, "Uhura! Good to see you again!" Uhura smiled back at the older woman. "You must be Doctor McCoy, Shirley had a lot of good things to say about you. Said you were faster with a hypo than she was."

"Are all Starship Captains this difficult?" McCoy asked whimsically.

"No, just the more adventurous ones, or the ones who marry Klingons anyway. Okay, Uhura, you're up first. We'll start in the rec room. They have a new holo emitter that'll allow us to make the rec room into a simulator for everything we need. Now, while this won't automatically promote you to Commander, it'll get you to the next rank up." They both nodded as they escorted Kris to her quarters. An Ensign would be available to take her to see Lieutenant Commander Giotto, Chief Recreation Officer, in the morning.

Later in the mess hall, Spock, Uhura, Chekov, and Scotty all sat around the table talking. "Oh, I retired about two years ago, and John offered me a teaching/Science position on the Joshua. We're old friends, so I accepted. I'm trying to drill common sense and diplomacy in to fresh faced Ensigns. Tactics and ethics are fine in theory, but if they don't have a filter between their brain and their mouth, I can't help them much."

"Who took over the Gagarin?" Spock asked.

"Liz, who else, she's a good officer. I should know, we graduated from the Academy at the same time. Dumark came with me, said she needs a change of scenery. Oh, Guldarth is fine, he retired from the chancellorship last month, keeps threatening to come see me. The Motark is the only Klingon ship that the Federation will ignore when crossing the Neutral Zone." She added with a laugh. "Well, some of us should get our rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Uhura met up with Kris the next day, "Okay, Nyota, I'm a civilian, I think we can be on first name basis. Up first is Tactical, then Command, Ethics, Diplomacy, Medical, Science, and then Engineering. You've probably been warned that you'll be faced with some tough decisions during the course of the test, so be prepared."

Tactical was surprisingly easy, maybe it was serving under James Kirk for the past four years that made it so. Command, Ethics, Diplomacy, Science and Engineering weren't that bad either. Unfortunately, when it came to Medical, she couldn't make the call. The triage, telling the difference between those who would live and who would die was her downfall. She just didn't know it yet. "It's okay, Uhura, it's okay. You'll have the chance to pass it again. Give yourself a day, I'm bringing in McCoy tomorrow." Uhura shuddered, she knew which would be McCoy's biggest hurdle: Engineering.

**Tell me what you think, I'll go more into detail about the Medical Scenario and Engineering Scenario in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**BOT Chapter 2**

by Starsinger

**My problem with this, is the only part of the simulation that was shown was the Engineering portion, which Uhura didn't have an issue with. McCoy, on the other hand, will, as did Troi. It's all about not destroying the Enterprise. Uhura, on the other hand, has issues with the medical portion. Different choices, mind you. Kris will be as helpful as she can, but as the person giving the test, there's only so much she can do. Again, for anyone who's curious, the Next Gen episode is "Thine Own Self". Don't own them.**

Spock stood by Kris as they watched McCoy go through the simulation. "Scotty, what if we diverted the flow through the dilithium chamber one, and jettison core two?"

Scotty worked at his console, "Tha' would hae to be done manually, sir. Someone would hae ti go in and fix it by hand."

"No one could survive the radiation exposure in there, perhaps…" McCoy's voice trailed off as the ship "blew" up again. The holographic emitter shut down leaving just the three of them. McCoy shook his head. "That's, what, the third time I've blown up the Enterprise?" he muttered. "I thought there wasn't a no-win scenario to this?" he asked, staring accusingly at Kris and Spock.

"I assure you, Doctor, that there is a solution to this scenario," Spock replied. "Uhura figured it out, you should also," he nodded at Kris before exiting the rec room. McCoy muttered under his breath.

Kris smiled, "Hey, I'll be here for three more days. You'll figure it out, and so will Uhura. She can't seem to get past the medical portion." McCoy stared after her as she left the rec room.

McCoy met up with Uhura in the Officer's Mess. "McCoy, how difficult is triage? I mean, how do you decide who needs to be sent up now, and who can wait?"

McCoy picked his head up off the engineering schematic he was studying and sighed, "It's usually the most critical that you send in first. The toughest, though, is when you realize that there's nothing you can do. You just have to let them go."

Uhura looked aghast, "Alright, what if you'd been able to pull Kirk out of that chamber before he died."

McCoy looked sadly at his young friend, "Unfortunately, with the massive dose of radiation he'd received before Spock was called, give enough pain killers so that he wouldn't feel anything, then held his hand while he slipped away…" McCoy's voice trailed away as he relived that horrible moment when Kirk's body landed on his table, ready for an autopsy.

They heard two watches sound at precisely the same moment and looked up to humorously watch Spock push both Kirk and Riley into the mess. Sometimes a Vulcan was a better alarm clock than the mechanical ones anyone ever devised. Both men looked sheepishly at each other as they ordered their food and sat down to eat. "I sometimes think your boyfriend is worse than I am!" McCoy quipped.

"When it comes to Jim, I have to agree," Uhura said, stabbing at her own food. The next day she found herself, again, in the middle of a landing party with many wounded, many seriously. The transporter room had only three functioning pads, and that meant only the most critically injured needed to go up, and fast as hostile natives had them surrounded. The rest would be loaded into the shuttle. The obvious ones with broken limbs and minor contusions were being loaded onto the shuttle, but that left four critically injured landing party members left. Uhura scanned them with her tricorder, and suddenly remembered what McCoy had told her. "Enterprise, lock onto the communicator signals of the ones I just placed and beam them aboard. Have Medical stand-by for emergency procedures." She watched as the three "people" disappeared. Unfortunately, the fourth man's internal injuries were so grievous, she bowed her head before whispering a heartfelt apology, and giving a hypo with a pain killer. It wouldn't kill him, but he wouldn't be in pain. He reached over and grasped her hand before they gently picked him up and put him in the shuttle. She ran into the shuttle herself as everyone joined her and she hit the hatch before the pilot lifted into the air.

"Computer, end simulation!" Kris' voice rang through the room. Uhura looked at her, her look was one of desolation. "Sometimes, you have to make the hard decisions, Uhura. It doesn't matter what department you're in."

"I…I'm glad I'm not in Medical," Uhura said slowly. "How Leonard makes these kinds of decisions, I'll never know."

"He's having his own struggles, Uhura. Right now, he can't come to terms with the fact that he's going to have to come to a very similar decision that Kirk did back with Khan, or he'll never pass the Engineering part of this exam."

"Do you think he can?" Uhura whispered.

"Yes, I do. He may need some help, though," Kris sighed. "John's already comming me twice a day, wondering when I'm coming back. Seems my cat is getting really lonely."

Uhura laughed, "You have a cat?"

"Yep, she's an only child. Come on, Lieutenant Commander, it's time to give the doctor a nudge."

McCoy never expected to be confronted by an angry Uhura, "You know she's leaving tomorrow?" she announced. "Kris is beginning to wonder if you have what it takes!"

"Me? What about you?" McCoy asked.

"I passed earlier today," Uhura responded. "Look, taking command means making hard choices. If you can't make them, maybe you're not fit to be in the command chair!" Uhura turned and stormed out.

McCoy stared after her, not quite sure what to make out of her words. Finally, with a curse, he threw the stylus in his hand he'd been using to study the engineering schematics of the Enterprise with, down, he walked quickly from his quarters and into the quiet rec room two decks up. "Computer, begin Engineering test."

The rec room quickly filled with the familiar surroundings of the Engine room as both Scotty and Riley looked up, "I can't get the warp core reactor back on-line, Commander. If we don't do something quickly, it'll explode."

McCoy called up the schematics and once again was faced with the impossible. Finally, he looked at Scotty, "If you went into the Jeffries' tube there, would you be able to fix it?"

Scotty swallowed, "Aye, I could fix it."

Riley turned and looked at them, "He wouldn't survive the radiation exposure, Commander. With all the uncontrolled matter/antimatter mixing going on in there."

McCoy closed his eyes and nodded, "Do it, Commander." Scotty nodded, picking up his toolbox before exiting the room. McCoy shook his head, in fact, his whole body started to shake.

"Computer, end simulation," another voice sounded. He turned around to find both Kris and Uhura standing behind him. "The toughest decisions can be knowing when to order someone to their deaths," Kris murmured.

McCoy shook his head, "Am I ready for that kind of responsibility? Will I know what the right thing to do is?"

Kris laid a hand on his arm, "That you're even asking these questions means you know the answer to those questions, Doctor. Come on, we need a drink." She led them to the Officer's Mess where lunch was being served. She walked over to one of the replicators, "Computer, one uniform, McCoy, Leonard H, rank: Commander. One uniform, Uhura, Nyota, rank: Lieutenant Commander." The whole room had gone silent as she made her announcement. McCoy and Uhura stood there stunned as she handed them their newest uniforms. Kris shook their hands and stepped away as their fellow officers crowded around them offering their congratulations.

M'Benga was the first one up, "Congratulations, Leonard, I knew you could do it."

Someone at the back cleared their throat, loudly. The crowd parted as Kirk and Spock made their way through, "So, you made it through the Engineering part, huh? I knew that would be the worst for you, Bones."

"Jim, I now understand why you did it. It was the toughest decision you ever made, wasn't it?" Uhura whispered.

"It was both the toughest and easiest decision I ever made, Uhura. Toughest, because I knew I would die. Easiest, because the only person I was ordering to do it was myself. Not that Scotty would ever let me pull that stunt again," Scotty rolled his eyes in agreement. "You're both going on the roster as of tonight. You'll be notified when your shifts will be." They both nodded, "Congratulations!" Kirk held out his hand and both shook it.

**Ah, next chapter, their first shifts. I can see this one coming a mile away. lol**


End file.
